Wow, two blogposts in one week? Sure, why not! It will probably be even more because tomorrow I’m participating in the biannual 24 hour readathon. I’m playing by my own rules and adjusted the time element because my cousin is hosting a “Just sixty” birthday party and I don”t want to miss that (either)!

My plan

The official times for my region are 2PM Saturday – 2PM Sunday. As I have to leave for the party around 3:30 ánd need to get dressed for the occasion -you all watch Downton Abbey and know how it works, right?- that doesn’t leave much room for reading. So I’ll be brave and set my alarm clock at 7:30 PM to start RaT-ing early!

We’ll get to the party venue by bus on which I hope to be able to do some unofficial cheerleading. If I don’t get carsick that is… >.< Once home again I’ll probably go to bed and get up indecently early next day.

Book(s)

I plan on immersing myself in just the one book: The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell. *happy dance* Mitchell is my favourite author and I’ve been looking forward to this novel SO much! I wonder which old acquaintances will I meet?

The book is 600+ pages and I want to finish it before a book club meetup on November 15th. That won’t be an easy feat in my current reading pace. So I have started already and am currently on page 15. My progress can be followed on Goodreads and I may occasionally post here too.

In case I really need a change of palate I will be reading short stories from Haruki Murakami’s The Elephant Vanishes. Can’t wait to get comfy and read-read-read!

The rest

I probably won’t be participating in (m)any mini challenges because I know they just distract me from reading. The same goes for blogging and spending time on social media. But you never know where you’ll meet me in cyberspace during the RaT! Where can I find you?

Where from?

I won the Sea Shepard’s vegan cookbook I few months ago on Lisa’s Project Vegan blog and the recipes I’ve tried so far are all thumbs up! I hope to spend a post on the book sometime soon so I can link it up to Trish’s Cook It Up — but let’s not get ahead of myself. I used local borlotti beans out of our organic CSA haul for the bean spread this past weekend. Other local and organic ingredients in this lunch are zucchini, lettuce, tomato and parsley.

This week I’m playing BoBRaT again: participating in the Bout of Books readathon. Unofficially, because I was too late to sign up. But I so desperately need some pressure to tackle the books on my Mt TBR that I’m just ignoring that fact. Don’t need to win any prizes anyway, as long as I’ll achieve my goal. Which is..?

Readathon Goal

I want to read every day this week for at least 30 minutes, preferably in one sitting. It can be anything: from the pile of magazine clippings and leaflets that’s been bugging me to one of the three books I should be reading right now…

De kleurloze Tsukuru Tazaki en zijn pelgrimsjaren / The Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. I’ve joined the August 12th – September 12th readalong of Master Murakami’s most recent book, which is part of Dolce Bellezza’s Japanese Literature Challenge #8

Rayuela: een hinkelspel / Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar. This notorious Latin American literary experiment of 500+ pages was picked by my IRL bookgroup to be read before September 7th. Oomph.

Op de vleugels van de draak (‘On the dragon’s wings’) was chosen as one of two books to be read in August by the Boekgrrls, a Dutch mailing list and on-line book group. And though reading along is always voluntary, I was the one to nominate Lieve Joris’ newest nonfiction. So I can’t drop out now, can I?!

It’s not that I don’t WANT to read these books, I just can’t get myself to do it :( Can you help?

Books & Kisses’ BKReadAThon seamlessly follows up last weekend’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, from Monday April 28th – Sunday May 4th. Though I will be mostly updating in my native language this week because it is a Dutch event, today’s post is in English due to another announcement.

They say it takes three weeks to form a new habit. Kicking one is much more difficult, but ‘da brains’ are good in acquiring something new. Hell, then re-establishing a familiar routine in 21 days must be a piece of cake! Right?

BoB RaT

There once was… a me that could be defined as a reader. But for several years now I’ve been trying to crawl my way out of a reading slump. So I’m signing up to be a BoB RaT from May 12th to 18th, participating in the Bout of Books Read-a-Thon. You may think that gives me a week off between readathons, but NO: if I manage to keep up my pace during the interlude, the BoB readathon will work as a a way of anchoring. In total it’ll be three weeks to kick in the ‘new’ habit! I *want* that happy ending.

My readathon goals will be generally the same as in the Books & Kisses RaT:

read every day of the week for at least 30 minutes;

finish the book I’m reading when the readathon starts;

provide for a change of palate to keep me motivated (i.e. alternate short works with longer);

[added] read from my real life folder of paper cuttings and such for 5 minutes each day;

make sure I’m well into a new book once the readathon ends;

(last but not least) HAVE FUN.

Of course there may be changes when May 12 comes around. Will keep you updated!

B&K Readathon

I wasn’t particularly looking forward to today’s book, Cats by T.S. Eliot, because I don’t really like reading poetry – and maybe whimsical poems even less. So I was pleasantly surprised when I immediately felt sympathetic towards the first poem: The Naming of Cats (Hoe noem je een kat? in Dutch, ranslated by Gerrit Komrij). It’s about cats needing no less than three names.

[..] But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,And that is the name that you never will guess;The name that no human research can discover–But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.

That said, the first poem was also the best of them all (as far as I’m concerned). Of course there’s no way of telling how close the translation is to the original, having to do with rhyme, rhythm, alliteration and wit.It is probably not for nothing that the 1939 original was translated to Dutch until 1985! Anyway, while the drawings by Edward Gorey are very much worth looking at, this genre is just really not something I enjoy spending time on. If I have to, I’d rather choose something by our very own Annie M.G. Schmidt.

It was amazing to be reading so much this past weekend thanks to the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon. It felt like coming home and I am determined to climb out of my two-year-long reading slump. Books need to come back on the daily menu!

It must be divine intervention making me find Books & KissesBKReadAThon, just before closing time. It follows the 24hourreadathon seamlessly, running from Monday April 28th – May 4th. It’s a Dutch event, so I will be updating in my native language for the next couple of days.

So. The bed is made, a load of laundry is running and the dishes of dinner, snacks, breakfast and lunch can wait a while longer while I write up this second-and-last update for the April 2014 24 hour read-a-thon. Let me say first: I had such FUN! My go-with-the-flow attitude was just what I needed to make this readathon a success. I am very grateful to my reading buddy Kuki whom stayed with me (or rather on top of me) most of the time. She even tried to wake me up before the alarm to continue reading ;) Her being so faithful made me less sad about my former readathon buddy Juno isn’t here any more.

My sweet reading buddy Kuki – yes you may kiss the screen ;)

The statistics…

I’ve been reading just one book and wasn’t able to finish it in time: Crossing to Safety ~ Wallace Stegner (ebook)

End of Event Meme

Which hour was most daunting for you?|
The first few… I was looking forward to it so much and then I something came up that made me miss out on the first six hours. So in fact I got an eighteen hour twentyfour readathon ;) Had to adapt a little and try not to be too disappointed. Also, when I went to bed at 1:30. I had planned on reading a while longer but my eyes fell shut even before my head hit the pillow.

Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
YES! I’ve only been reading Crossing to Safety and time flew! I can definitely recommend it to everyone.

Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope.

What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
My own attitude of going with the flow and just enjoying the event, taking part in the community stuff. I may not have made that concious decision if Andi hadn’t mentioned it in one of her video blogs!

According to my e-reader I need only 3 more hours of reading to finish the last 27% of Crossing to Safety. If.. I had started at the right time I had made it. So I am a little tempted to steal that time right now but on the other hand there are several tasks waiting for me. Appealing my self-discipline. ;)

Anywayz, I have enjoyed myself SO MUCH that I’m determined to make reading part of my daily routine again (and play on my phone less). Thanks to Wallace Stegner I already know I want to read Bill Bryson’s Walk in the Woods next. Yay for getting out of my reading slump!

THANK YOU Dewey and all the awesome people behind the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon!

This first update is going up much later than I thought while writing my start-up post. The day took an unexpected turn and -going with the flow- I only got to join in the fun at ten to seven tonight. It’s eleven now and I’m a bit tired, but also happy that I got to read at last!

Currently reading: Crossing to Safety ~ Wallace Stegner (ebook)

Books finished: 0

Pages read: no page count but I went from 22% to 39% read – progress!

Running total of pages read: ?

Amount of time spent reading: 3.00

Running total of time spent reading: 3.00

Amount of time spent on socialising: 0.27

Other: I only did the kick-off meme mini-challenge. Concerning reading spots: I first hung on the couch with Mr Gnoe reading next to me. After dinner (a simple tomato soup) I changed to our lazy chair where I lounged with Kuki on my lap. Had a glass of orange coloured prosecco (with a drop of mandarin liqueur) on the occasion of King’s Day. Staying with just the one because it makes me sleepy and we can’t have that, now can we? Snacked on grapes and banana, drank tea, coca cola light and water. Now I’m going to light some candles, make another pot of tea, grab a cat and continue my book.